love your veggies bag

Summertime! Wait a second, long sleeve shirt? Yep, that's a June morning in Seattle. I shouldn't be griping - at least its not raining. Until we hit our official summer weather (after Independence Day weekend, of course), I thought I'd brighten things up with a new bag (big surprise)...

I actually purchased this canvas bag from Target while I was in Chicago. I forgot to throw my smallish diaper bag into my suitcase, so when I unpacked, I found myself with only my super huge carry-on bag. Since I didn't want to lug that thing around for two weeks, I splurged on this bag ($12.99 - for a pretty cute little bag!).

When I returned to Seattle, I decided to spruce it up a bit with some embroidery on the pocket. I used another Sublime Stitching pattern that my friend Anna gifted to me a while back.

The happy little garlic and dancing carrot are just what I needed to make this bright lime bag even more cheerful! My embroidery is getting better, but I still have a long way to go (check out my first embroidered pocket project). I decided to make the garlic purple because I like purple better than white - and garlic is kind of purplish, right? It made me chuckle when I finished this embroidery and thought about how carrots and garlic are really not summertime vegetables. Oh well. They are so very darling and I couldn't resist them.

The feature that I really like about this bag is that the strap can be shortened or lengthened so that you can make it a hobo-style purse or a cross-body messenger-style bag. The pockets inside are pretty useless, the lining is very thin, and the pocket on the outside could use a closure of some sort. Perhaps I can use this bag to create a pattern of my very own with these improvements! Can you hear my cynical laugh right now? Can my to-do list of sewing projects get any longer?!

I think I'll sport my new bag to the Farmer's Market this Friday! :)

Bowling Bag

I am delighted with my new bag - it is rare when an idea I come up with actually turns out just how I pictured it! Though I could probably fit a bowling ball in this bag, it will actually hold a few diapers, a change of clothes for messy Marcus, snacks, my wallet, my phone, and other random mommy necessities.

First, let me tell you that I did not make the actual bag. It came from a clearance rack at Old Navy for the incredible price of $8! When I purchased it I thought, this would be the perfect bag with which to have an adventure in embroidering.

My friend Anna gave this embroidery pattern to me many years ago with an embroidery hoop and multiple loops of brightly colored embroidery floss. I've attempted some embroidery (check out my teepee), but had never used these awesome patterns until now. Let me tell you, I am a believer! Sublime Stitching is fabulous - it lives up to its name!

So, I mostly chose to embroider this bag with a bowling ball and pins because that's what I had on hand. And, I thought they were super cute. I'm actually a terrible bowler (unless you count Wii bowling - I rock at that). However, this bowling motif also reminds me of The Sunset Bowl in Ballard, which was (sadly) torn down this year. I miss The Sunset. But, its a good thing we'll have more condos with retail space on the bottom in The Sunset's place, because we certainly need more of those in Seattle (*big eye roll and sigh*).

Anyways, the pattern is super easy to use. You just iron your fabric, place the pattern, and cover it with a hot (steam off) iron for a few minutes.

Ta-da! I probably should have left the iron on a little bit longer, but I figured it was good enough.

I used the bowling pin iron-on twice, and I'll probably be able to use it 2 or 3 more times before it looses its iron-on capabilities. I made a teeny-tiny mistake when I overlapped the pattern, but you can hardly see it on the finished bag.

The best part of this project was that I did most of it while sitting on my back porch steps in the lovely afternoon sunshine. Gotta love quiet time/nap time!! And sunshine!

When the front pocket is full, all the pins show. When it is not full, the pocket flap covers it up a bit, but I kind of like it. Plus, who am I kidding... the pocket will always be full.

I will definitely be doing more embroidery with Sublime Stitching - you should check out all of the cute patterns on the site! Now I may have to go steal some bowling shoes to complete my look.